Malayalam filmmaker Shafi passes away

Born as MH Rasheed, he was popularly known as Shafi, and is the younger brother of noted screenwriter and director Rafi, one half of the writer duo Rafi-Mecartin. Shafi and Rafi are the nephews of late filmmaker Siddique.

Shafi, who assisted Siddique in multiple films in the 90s, made his directorial debut with Jayaram’s One Man Show (2001), which was a rather unique attempt at looping in a game show to unfurl the primary narrative of its protagonist. It is impressive how this pre-dates Slumdog Millionaire, and Vikas Swarup’s novel, Q & A. Shafi continued to deliver one hit after another with his films like Kalyanaraman, Pulivaal Kalyanam, and the Mammootty-starrer Thommanum Makkalum.

Shafi often collaborated with writer Benny P Nayarambalam, and delivered blockbusters like Mayavi, Lollipop, Chattambinaadu, and Marykkondru Kunjaadu. Although, he later faced a slight slump, he roared back to success with Dileep-Mamta Mohandas’ Two Countries in 2015.

Interestingly, despite dealing mostly with the humour genre, Shafi made films that were close to reality, and hardly ventured into the unrealistic space. In his movies, the situations held the key, and he was a master of extracting top-quality comedy performances from each of his cast members, many of whom became frequent collaborators. His films mostly revolved around the everyman, and ensured the humour quotient was high, and logic wasn’t forgotten either.

Having worked with some of the top names of Malayalam cinema, Shafi also made a Tamil film, Majaa, starring Vikram, Pasupathy, and Asin. The movie was the official remake of his own Thommanum Makkalum.

Shafi’s last directorial was the Sharaf U Dheen-starrer Aanandam Paramanandam (2022).